Pomegranate
by AliasStars
Summary: After so many hours of arguing, it takes only a heartbeat, a newborn, and a look into each other's eyes to determine what their baby's name is going to be.


**Man, I love that fruit. I could eat those seeds until my stomach cries to me to stop XD Anyway, enjoy this little piece of fluff that was inspired by a certain red fruit - and a Disney song and movie marathon:)**

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**pomegranate**

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A bowl of pomegranates sat atop the white granite countertop, and Rin glared violently at the red fruits. Usually, she'd chop one open in seconds and pop them so they sprayed sweet bursts of juice against her tongue, but she was too aggravated to do anything at all. Len was babbling, as usual.

...Naruto. Was he _serious_.

Both Len and she loved pomegranates- They were delicious, with the sour tanginess that Len adored and the sweet crispness that Rin craved. And lately, with the pregnancy, Rin had eaten enough pomegranates to ensure that after birth, she would assuredly never touch one again. It was one of the many things they agreed upon for opposite reasons; it was much like their favorite TV shows. Rin watched it so she could admire the good-looking actors, Len liked to watch for the actresses. They came to terms on most everything- People were jealous of how well they knew each other. If it came to one of those dumb love shows, they would surely sweep the stage; they just knew every little thing.

But for some reason, they just could not compromise on this.

Rin was already seven months in, and she was having difficulty walking at this point. Her cravings spanned from dill pickle Pringles to whipped cream to cheese fries, and Len was struggling to cope with her wildly fickle desires. Rin had recently had an ultrasound to determine the gender, yet both Len and she had denied knowing the results. Rin for one wanted the gender to be a surprise, and Len had gone with his wife's decisions.

But all Rin wanted to do now was bang her head against the table and cry.

"I am _not_ naming my firstborn Naruto!" She spun to her husband and he abruptly clamped his mouth shut, smiling sheepishly as he eased up beside her. He wrapped his arm around her waist, one fingertip lazily doodling across her stomach as he kissed her collarbone. His other hand lazily tossed and caught a plump pomegranate.

"Why _not_?" He argued in his most pragmatic voice. "It represents adventure!"

"You took it from some famous anime!" Rin growled at him and wrapped her arms around her stomach. "I am not naming my little Toshi Naruto!"

"T-" Len looked up from his work, slipping his glasses off and staring. "You want to name him something sounding like Yoshi?"

Rin bit her lip, staring beneath her eyelashes. "Toshi is a beautiful name."

"It has a little charm," Len grumbled, "if you want his nickname to be Toshiba. Which, by the way, is also famous."

Rin glared. "_Naruto_."

Len crossed his arms. "Naruto is also promising," he persisted, doing that stupid thing with his eyes and his mouth. The one where he gave her the _look_, and his eyebrows rose to give him a mischievous and persuasive flare; he also nibbled his lip so he looked timid at the same time. Rin huffed and looked away.

"Stop that." She commanded. "You look ridiculous, Len."

Len straightened and sighed. "Fine." He grumbled some more. "I see you have little appreciation for powerful and strong male names. How about Yuudai?"

"Stop giving me names that mean manly and heroic! That's just another powerful and strong male name!" Rin snapped. "I want a soft, gentle name that means... Like... Bells."

Len collapsed incredulously against the back of his seat, looking somewhat horrified. "...Bells? Are you serious?"

Rin sent him a moody glare. "Better than 'band of muscle that does heroic things."

They had reached an impasse; neither of them had anything further to argue, but neither were willing to give up. The best feature of their relationship was turning on them very quickly. Rin gave him a fierce look and pulled a very sordid card.

"My baby," she argued, hugging her stomach and sticking her tongue out at him. "My name."

"That's just unfair, sweetheart." He assumed a pained look. "Now you're just playing dirty." He threw his arms up. "How about strong bells?"

Rin shrugged, lying back. "How about Chi?"

"That means blood, darling." Len reminded her gently, but with the slightest dose of mockery. Rin gave him a hapless look and grinned a little.

"Blood is a beautiful thing."

Len twitched. "Adventurer."

"Lover."

"Warrior."

"Dreamer."

"Powerful."

Rin was about to slam him with 'Peach Boy' when sudden pain erupted in her stomach, sending needles of pain shooting towards every corner of her body. Rin's legs gave way like jelly and spaghetti sticks and she crumpled with a whimper. She gasped for breath, feeling sudden and violent contractions. "_Ah-!"_

"Rin?" Len knelt next to her, panicking as he took a few strands of her golden hair and brushed them aside to see what was wrong. "Oh, god, it's the baby, isn't it? Oh god oh god oh god-" Len scrambled to his feet, tugging his wife up to his level. Rin, pleading now, let out a groan, water seeping out around her.

"Oh no, oh no, the water's- ah, god-" Len kind of freaked out, half dragging, half walking her to the car. He sat her down very gently, and then threw himself into the driver's seat. He stared, pale, at the steering wheel for a second, thinking he might just pass out, and then powered the car up and ripped out of the driveway.

Len glared at every traffic light that stopped him as Rin shook beside him, exhaling violently. "Okay, Rin, calm down, you're going to be okay, calm down, it's okay, just calm down-"

"Shut _up_!" Rin nearly bellowed at him as she slapped him upside the head, shooting daggers at him through her eyes. "_You_ calm down!"

Len glanced at her frantically as he pulled up at the hospital. "Okay, Rin, we're here. Calm-"

"Don't." Rin shot him a daring and murderous look, her pale face scrunched up in pain as she clenched her jaw. Len hurried to her side and tried his best to pull her into Urgent Care, and the young woman just about screamed in pain. "Len, _the baby!_"

"I know!" he blurted out stupidly, frantic and terrified. The two young nurses had just about picked up on what was happening, and they hurried around Rin, lifting her onto a stretcher. Len bit his lip, pretty much staggering forward in relief as they took her into the Labor and Delivery section. He headed for the doors himself, but a pretty nurse giggled, shaking her head and barring his entrance. Len looked at her in consternation and dismay, opening his mouth to argue, but she just winked at him.

"She'll be out soon, handsome. Don't you worry 'bout it, we're the best around." She disappeared inside and basically slammed the doors on Len's face. The young man paced around the ceramic floor, hoping and pleading with some higher form that Rin would survive the pregnancy with her son.

After all, what was the point of picking names if Rin didn't, God forbid, make it? Len got less than no sleep- Negative sleep even -that night as he wore down his shoes and the floors in desperate panic.

It was about 2 A.M. when the doors popped open again and the same curly haired nurse emerged, her hair now looking frizzy and worn out. It was nothing compared to her grouchy and frustrated eyes, though.

"Your wife is very vocal." she said stiffly, and Len wanted to laugh hysterically. "She slapped me when I tried to give some words of advice."

"Let me guess," Len said dryly, his heart pounding so loudly that he could hear it in rushes of blood. "You told her to calm down."

That was Rin, beautiful, stubborn as hell, and one of the strongest and temperamental women he'd ever met. She had him whipped- completely wrapped around her little finger like a piece of twine or ribbon.

She looked at him in surprise. "How did you-? Ah, you must want to see your baby and wife."

"Yes," Len said in an agonized, quaveringly patient voice. "Very much so." He noticed how she avoided even voicing hints to implicate the baby's gender, which both drove him mad and confused him. They hadn't even begun to discuss a name for anyone but a son. Before Len went in, he noticed that there was a basket of fruit sitting on a table, addressed to the hospital. His jumbled mind picked out a pomegranate on top like it was crowning the fruit basket, and he nicked it before he walked through the doors.

Why? Rin loved pomegranates, this might cheer her up as she'd obviously just been through a rather strenuous ordeal. But when Len pushed open her doors, he genuinely thought no one could look more relaxed and complacent than Rin did. Her unsmiling yet breathtakingly calm face turned to him and she breathed out.

Len relaxed against the doorway, a goofy smile crossing his face as he watched her. Remarkable, that was Rin.

"It's a girl," she whispered quietly, but it resonated out in a wave to Len's ears. His smile didn't dim.

"I love girls," he said in a loopy, hysterical-relieved voice. Rin rolled her eyes to the ceiling, unable to stop a small grin from crossing her face.

"Creep," she remarked, and he walked forward, hands shoved into his pockets as he admired the little bundle of blankets. He suddenly felt wonderfully emotional; it was embarrassing, but if felt like warm gold. Tears brushed the corners of his eyes as he touched the tip of his pinky finger to her teeny one. She was so small. She was so beautiful. She would grow to be as beautiful as her mother one day.

She was bawling with iron lungs, another trait of Rin's- and that an evident one. Len knelt next to his daughter, brushing his mouth against her tiny nose, and Rin watched the whole scene, her mouth curved at the ends. The goofball would make an excellent father.

Both were thinking the same thing, though: her name. As they began to speak, began to argue already over her name, Rin's eyes moved down to Len's hand, and Len's followed.

In a moment, they knew. Len's head snapped up and Rin slowly grinned as they both opened their mouths.

"_Zakuro."_

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**Zakuro: Pomegranate.**


End file.
